Campaign Tagging

Campaign tagging is the process we use to accurately identify and categorize gifts and communications within your CRM. This is the most important step that you can take to improve model accuracy.

Dataro’s machine learning models require that all gifts and communications are labelled consistently for accurate analysis (e.g. identifying Appeals, Recurring Gifts, Events, etc.). Because every organization sets up campaigns differently, “tagging” helps Dataro understand how your organization works by matching your “category” and “channel” labels to ours. 

Once tagging is complete we process your data and deploy a suite of models which predict fundraising outcomes and generate predictive ranks and scores for your supporters

Initial Campaign Tagging

Campaign tagging allows Dataro’s models to accurately understand how and why every gift made it into your system. Dataro will automatically begin tagging your campaigns, but it is important that you verify and update these tags as needed, to ensure that the way your organization classifies different types of campaigns is accurately reflected in Dataro. To get started:

1. Log into app.dataro.io and select the option to ‘Continue Setup’ on the banner at the top. 
2. Review the series of cards presented. Each one represents a parent campaign (e.g. an Appeal in Blackbaud systems, or Campaign in Salesforce). At the top level, you will see the category and channel Dataro has 'predicted' for this item.
3. If the category and channel that Dataro has automatically identified are correct, select 'Approve' to move on to the next. If you are unsure about a card you can 'Skip'. If the details are incorrect, or you wish to review or make changes at the package level, select 'Show Details' to see the underlying items and update them as required.
4. Once you have tagged enough campaigns for Dataro to move on to the modeling step, the system will prompt you to "Finish Tagging." Click that button, and then review your work before clicking "Continue to next step."
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5. Once you've finished reviewing and have clicked the final approval for your campaign tagging validation, you'll see the following message alerting you that the Dataro system is processing your data and working on training our propensity models for you. This means you have officially completed the campaign tagging step!
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The minimum number of tags is 100 campaigns, but we recommend that you tag as many campaigns as possible. The more campaigns tagged, the more accurate and powerful your predictions and reporting will be. 

You can also revisit and review the tagging at any time in the future.

Dataro uses an active learning system powered by machine learning to support you in the campaign tagging process. Once you have tagged a sufficient number of campaigns, Dataro is able to generalize from your choices and automatically update further tagging.

Understanding Dataro Category and Channel Tags

Dataro uses Category Tags and Channel Tags to classify campaigns and interactions. It's important to understand these tags for accurate labeling. 

Category Tags

Category Tags describe the type of solicitation, campaign, or gift. These are the Category Tags available:

Tag	Definition
Acquisition	Campaigns targeted toward contacts who have not given previously (e.g., List swap DM Acquisition)
Administration	Communications sent for purely administrative purposes, i.e. to inform donors that their annual receipts are being prepared
Appeal	Campaigns focused on an ask for a single or one-time gift (e.g.,Tax DM Appeal)
Community	Events run by community members in support of your organization (e.g. Bake sales)
Convert to RG	Campaigns that seek to convert donors from single giving to recurring giving
Corporate	A campaign to record gifts made on behalf of corporate entities
Email to Target	A communication where the intended outcome is that the donor emails a particular individual or organisation
Emergency	A special subcategory of Appeals, in which the Appeal is launched in response to a recent event relating to Emergency or Disaster relief (e.g. 2022 Ukraine Conflict)
Event	A campaign to record donations made at events (e.g. Gala Dinner) or purchases of event tickets
Gifts in Will	A campaign to record gifts made in a will (e.g. Bequests)
Government Funding	A campaign to record grants and other types of government funding
In Memory	A campaign to record gifts made in memory of an individual
Membership	A campaign to record membership payments
Merchandise	A campaign to record transactions for items bought via a store (eg. Online T-Shirt purchase)
Newsletter	Periodic newsletter communications
Peer-to-Peer	Crowdfunding campaigns (e.g. Facebook Fundraising or Just Giving)
Petition	A campaign to record sign-ups through a form or signature (e.g., Facebook Save the Climate leads)
Raffle	A campaign to record donations made for the chance at a prize (e.g. "New Year New Car" Raffle)
Receipt	A communication that is sent to a donor as a receipt of an earlier donation. Very occasionally donors will contribute as a response to a receipt.
RG Acquisition	A campaign for the purpose of acquiring new donors specifically for Recurring Giving
RG Declines	A campaign undertaken to resolve RG payment issues with donors
RG Reactivation	A campaign to reactivate lapsed recurring givers
RG Retention	A campaign to proactively prevent donors from canceling their recurring giving
RG Upgrade	A campaign targeted at existing recurring givers to encourage them to increase their gift amount
Services	A campaign used to record communications and revenue for services performed by or on behalf of the organisation
Stewardship	Stewardship activities made to potential major donors
Survey	A campaign that has the purpose of collating donor attitudes to particular questions and issues
Thank You	A thank you communication without an ask (e.g., Giving 12 months Thank You)
Trusts & Foundations	A campaign to record gifts made on behalf of a trust or foundation
Workplace Giving	A campaign to record regular contributions made as part of an employee’s salary

If your gift or communication type is not found above, we have two "Other" types. These are:

One-off	Other single gift donations not classified above
Regular Gift	Other recurring gift donations (e.g., monthly or annual gifts made as a recurring contribution)

Channel Tags

Each campaign you run will typically be sent via a particular communication channel. The channel should be tagged with how the gift is solicited rather than the channel that you received the gift through. Dataro’s Channel Tag options are:

Door-to-Door	Communications made in person at the supporter's residence
DRTV	A campaign where the primary communication is via Direct TV Commercials or PSAs.
Email	Email (EDM) campaigns
Event	Campaigns made at an isolated event
Face-to-Face	Communications made on the street and in-person
Inserts	Unaddressed printed material such as magazine and newspaper inserts.
Mail	Direct Mail (DM) and undirected mail sent via the post
Online	Campaigns made online (via a website such as Everyday Hero, Just Giving, or Fundraise Up) or other digital channels (such as Facebook)
Other	Any other channel not detailed
Phone	Telemarketing campaigns made over the phone
Radio	Campaign hosted via radio
SMS	Campaigns sent via SMS/text message

For example: if somebody donated to "DM Tax Appeal 2020", then the campaign category is "Appeal" and the channel is "Mail". 

Your organization may not use all of these different programs and tags - that's OK! You may also have slightly different internal definitions, that's OK too. The important thing is that the Dataro Categories and Channels you use to tag your campaigns are accurate based on these definitions and that you apply them consistently, so that the Dataro platform can correctly understand them.

Ongoing Campaign Tagging

Once you have completed the initial setup, Dataro will continue to automatically identify or ‘tag’ every transaction and communication in your system using the information in your CRM, such as the size of a campaign, when it was run, how many people gave to it, what it is named, and more. However, Dataro will sometimes ask for ongoing help reviewing and improving these tags.

To ensure that Dataro can continue to provide your organization with accurate, high quality predictions, we recommend refreshing your campaign tagging every 6 months.

To review new campaign tags:

1. Open Dataro and navigate to the Campaign Tagging page from the Connections and Data menu.
2. Review the series of cards presented, following the same process outlined above.

We recommend that you tag as many campaigns as possible. You can also revisit and review the tagging at any time in the future.

Frequently asked questions about campaign tagging

What if my campaign has donations that come from different channels?

Our recommendation is that your Appeals / Packages are constructed in such a way that you can clearly delineate between different campaign categories and channels. However, this may not always be possible and historical data is often not structured this way.

In these situations, we suggest you make a 'best effort', going with the 'majority' case or the case that is most relevant for costs or income.

A very common situation is that an Appeal type campaign is sent out via Mail and Email and the data has not been captured to separate the two channels. In this situation, our recommendation would be to label the campaign as 'Mail' as that channel has the highest cost and generally the highest response rates associated with it. 

While it can sometimes be difficult to pin down a campaign to one specific category and channel, the important thing is to be consistent in how you approach the labelling so Dataro can effectively group and understand similar types of campaigns, revenue and interactions.

What should I do with unclear historical data?

Similar to the situation discussed above, in situations where the data is unclear, we suggest making a 'best effort', going with the 'majority' case or the case that is most relevant for costs or income.

How should I categorize peer-to-peer campaigns, such as those run through JustGiving or Facebook Fundraising?

Peer-to-peer campaigns, such as those on JustGiving or Facebook Fundraising, should be tagged as "Peer-to-Peer" campaigns. This category is specifically for gifts that are crowdfunded by an individual. Consistent labeling of peer-to-peer campaigns enables proper tracking and analysis of their impact. It helps in understanding the effectiveness of these campaigns in engaging donors and generating revenue. Tagging peer-to-peer campaigns accurately ensures that they can be distinguished from other types of campaigns in the database.

Can I revise my campaign tagging decisions later? 

You have the opportunity to update the campaign tagging at any time, simply log in to your Dataro account and you will be able to do so under Data Hub > Campaign Tagging. 

Dataro typically updates donor predictions every 7 days, and you will be able to see when the last set of predictions were made in your Dataro account under Settings > Scheduled Processes. Any updates to your campaign tagging will be reflected in the next prediction update. 

How often should I check and update my Campaign Tagging?

We recommend that you check and update your Campaign Tagging at least every 6 months. This ensures that the tagging remains correct and up to date. Regular checking helps in identifying any inconsistencies or errors in the labeling of new campaigns. This also allows for adjustments to be made based on changes in campaign strategies or new campaign categories. Keeping campaign tagging updated enhances the accuracy and reliability of Dataro’s data analysis and predictions.